Many of us need to lose some extra body fat. For that reason alone, I am asked from time to time about the BTD. Threads asking for tips on how to speed up the process of weight loss came up from time to time before the Forums in Heidi Merritt’s “On the Diet” column. Now, it appears from time to time over on the Forums. Therefore, today’s blog is about what I have learned about weight loss thus far. Maybe it will help to speed up your own progress or someone you are trying to help.

I closed my last blog talking about how I had started to try to incorporate the blood type recommendations for portions and to lose weight. I didn’t do too well with the veggies, but I did feel better. Not much difference on the scale...it just wiggled a little back and forth...which I found infuriating. Huh. Then, I thought, maybe, I’ll add the exercise part, too.

The scale said I had shed an entire 5 pounds in one week! The weight never came back! Moreover, I felt wonderful! I even actually had soooo much energy out of no where that had I been a child, I would have been called “hyper”! Can you imagine a hyperactive 280-pound (127.01 kilos), 37 year old woman who rewrote protest songs from the 1960s (please read yesterday’s blog if you don’t understand this song part)? And live with her? My husband and teenage son had to do more than imagine it. Are you jealous now that you don't live with me?

Now, can you explain WHY I didn’t continue with that plan? There was one reason. I still hadn’t really "gotten" it. I thought that it was just a fluke of some sort. And, I didn’t really have the time to fix all those veggies anyway, and, and, and, and. So, I didn’t lose any more weight for a while and wondered why. Quick as a rusty steel trap wasn’t I?

I did realize that the proportions had helped. Like the majority of the world, I really didn’t/don't just while away the day lounging on my chaise trying to amuse myself while bossing around the household servants. This is when I invented that food & exercise sheet I blogged about back on day one.

One day, while on a house-hunting trip far from our home, my husband and I were sitting in a restaurant. I was not eavesdropping, but I could very easily hear the two ladies who where having lunch behind us talking. One of them said that she was going to get a big salad. Her friend reminded her that she had just had a huge salad the day before for lunch. Then she asked her friend if she ever tired of having them. The woman’s reply was no. She said that every time she ate vegetables that she felt so much better that it was as if her body was thanking her for eating them and so she ate them as much as possible at every opportunity.

Did I make the connection? Well, it did make me go “hmmm....” mentally. But it was the middle of winter. I had a new full-time job and a part-time home based business that was dying on its feet. We were going to be moving, etc., etc., etc. So, it escaped me. I have concluded since, that the time was just not right yet, for whatever reason.

I did find that as Spring arrived that I started to lose weight again. I had heard that it was easier to lose weight in Spring and Summer than in the Fall and Winter. However, I had never really experienced this before. I also had never gone completely through all of Lent - Ash Wednesday through Easter - without a sinus infection. One that required antibiotics for weeks in order to shake it. Well, that Spring, I was completely sinus trouble free! I can also report that I was sick only once that year. However, I am digressing.

That Summer, Dr. D’s Health Library series started being actually published. I pre-ordered mine at my local bookstore. One of the books was about diabetes. I did not have diabetes myself, but it was on my side of the family and so I had been looking into the issue.

As it turned out, I was most likely what is called pre-diabetic. I had been termed that back when I had been seeing a MD instead of a ND. I started to follow the food lists for diabetes prevention and like magic it all fell into place. My excess fat continues to steadily diminish as long as I put into practice what it took me over a year's worth of learning curve to teach myself. Just within the last month or so, I have found tidbits that I missed in the pre-pregnancy part of the ERFYBaby book. No, I don’t plan to get pregnant at going on 40. I was wondering what I should have done had I known about the BTD back when I was in my 20’s and pregnant with my son.

Back then, there were no bloggers or BTD Forum. There was someone trained in BTD principles in my area that I did seek out and paid for advice from. In all honesty, it didn’t help me much. It turned out that we AB’s are so rare that I was told that it would be a hit and miss process on their part due to their lack of experience and real understanding of the AB types weaknesses and requirements. I give the person credit for informing me of their lack of knowledge up front.

The answers I needed to find for my body may or may not be the same as the ones you need. Your body may also need more or less time to heal itself to the point that it can begin to shed its excess fat. Please take full advantage of all the resources you have available to you to live this life style. You will be both investing in yourself and in your future...no matter what others may say or think or both. It will not necessarily extend your life, but I am convinced beyond any doubt whatsoever that it will vastly improve the quality of if.